A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse, Part One

Again, it's happened again...another shooting on another campus...this time in northern Illinois! Kathy Lawes, Acting Association Minister for the Prairie Association, Illinois Conference UCC, sent out an email in the aftermath of the shooting at Northern Illinois University. She writes,

"'We Grieve Together.' These are the words on the signboard in
front of First Congregational UCC, DeKalb.

The ongoing shock is palpable in the community. The sense of security that we have enjoyed and even taken for granted has been shattered. Yesterday afternoon, as four news helicopters hovered over the NIU campus, other helicopters were transporting several of the injured students from our local hospital to hospitals that could better handle the particular injuries suffered. The air was thick with helicopters, fear and uncertainty; for a while it did indeed feel like DeKalb was under siege.

Local faith communities stepped forward quickly to assist students, faculty and parishioners sort through their own disbelief and horror. Candlelight vigils, prayer services, and community-wide gatherings of worship and remembrance have drawn people together in the face of tragedy. Dawn Jones, campus minister at NIU and In-Care with Prairie Association, was present on campus Thursday and through much of the night, and continues to offer comfort and care to many. Six large white croses, draped with purple sashes, stand in front of the Lutheran Campus Ministry building in the center of campus, and the site of our United Campus Ministry outreach.

Disturbingly, a flier is being distributed to alert the community that the Westboro Baptist Church intends to send protesters to picket the vigils and the funeral and memorial services of those killed by gunfire yesterday. Rev. Judy Harris of our DeKalb church is coordinating efforts for a peaceful presence at these services to counteract the hate represented by the picketers.

By contrast, an Iraqi graduate student at Northern, stranded at the local Jewel when the NIU cuses were shut down following the shooting, telephoned a member of our DeKalb church for a ride home. The student's first response to the tragedy was, 'Where do I go to give blood?'

In this time of tragedy, John's words are particularly poignant and comforting: 'The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.' It is the light of God's love, who surely weeps with us; it is the light of Christ's resurrection, the miracle of love that followed senseless violence; it is the light of the Holy Spirit reflected in the hearts of those who grieve, who seek not retribution, who work for healing among shattered people.

Your prayers are real to us. Thank you."

As faithful as these words are, that they had to be written is very disturbing. They speak of yet another person, another young person, undebatably troubled, that decided to take out his troubles with unspeakable violence against others and himself. Weekly, if not daily we read in the paper of those that are considering violence against others as their first option.

Often these people are young, at least under the age of forty. This is not always the case, yet it seems to be happening often enough that we can at least acknowledge a disturbing trend.

And it's not just the urban gangs of minority youth that kill each other to gain "cred" or to protect their turf. Neither is it only the kids who immerse themselves in violent computer games.

We read of the mother that purportedly put her infant into a microwave and turned it on. We read of the former Bible College student that turned his gun on former teachers and even upon worshipers at a nearby church.

And, we read of this young man in northern Illinois that seemed to be successful, gregarious, a good student, from a good family, and yet, now a murderer (and, of course, dead himself).

And so, we grieve. We become disturbed ourselves. We upgrade our security systems and disaster response efforts. We prepare our churches to become centers of prayer and healing in the eventuality that such horror might happen in our towns.

Bill Green, a member of the UCC national staff in Cleveland, wrote of another approach in today's meditation in the online UCC StillSpeaking Lenten Devotional. In reflecting on God's call to Abraham to go to the land that God would show him (Genesis 12:1-3) Bill wrote,

"We have come to associate faith with self-confidence and a good sense of direction, as though it were a prayer-mounted GPS. Instead, it's a way to go amid uncertainty and self-doubt when our direction is unclear and apprehension can run high, as with Abram. God can't steer a parked car. Moving ahead in faith doesn't mean having a map and knowing the way. It means getting unstuck. Once we start moving, sometimes simply going out on our best hunch, we will be shown where we're meant to go and how to be a blessing, to others and ourselves, too."

Faith means getting unstuck. Indeed! And what this says to me is that, if we are stuck in an increasing spiral of violence, faithful people can (must!), with God's help, find a better way to address the needs of our society than merely waiting for horror to happen before we begin working and praying.

In part 2 of this blog I want to talk of how one young man, Eboo Patel, an American Muslim, is attempting to do just this.

In the meantime we can pray with the psalmist (Ps. 122:6) for the peace of Jerusalem...and Nairobi...and Moghadishu...and Baghdad...and DeKalb...and...

Blessings,

Rick Cowles